Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-11-16
The Wants Of Man.
; New York Journal Of commerce +

The Wants OF Man.
New York Journal Of CommsrcsT
Long before the familiar quotation
stman wants but little here below, mol
wants that little long," found it's way into
, print there was a wide difference of opinion
not only as to the sum ofhuman needs, but
As to the duty of governing ones desires
| by the standard of absolute necessity. 1t
is true that the best prescription for the
acquisition of wealth is that rule which re-
quires the conformity Of the hearts long
ings to the actual needs. No person in good
health can fail of reaching measure Of f.
nancial independence who is willing to prac-
tice the requisite self denial. There is not
. family in the country that may not sooner
or later become fore-handed if the members
will expend nothing but what their neces-
sites demand, and persons with very
moderate income may soon reach point Of
comparative afluence by following the
stated rule.
Few ever stop to consider how large a
part of their outgoes are unchanged for
what are known as comforts or luxuries,
and which are by no means essential to life
or health. A whole family may live and
thrive physically on . very, few cents a
| day judiciousiy expended for the most eco
nomical sustenance. In fact the stomachs
of the poorer classes Of society are pamper-
ed daily with expensive viands that are
absolutely unwholesome in the quantity
consumed, and the want of economy in this
respect is the most difficult of all the prob
lens which those are called to solve who
try to establish thrift among the INDECENT.
We do not mean by this that any class of
society should be kept on bread and water
as penalty for being poor, or that day
laborers are only entitled to oatmeal por-
ridge because they are not rich enough to
have bank account. We are not laying
down one rule for man who keeps house
on an avenue, and another for one who is
crowded into close quarters on a back
street. We refer to this only to show that
a large part of that which is expended for
food by people Of all ranks is not demand
ed by the necessities of being, and is gov
erned more by appetite or fancy than by
the requirements of the physical constitu.
ton. With people of large means the
stomach is often made to suffer, and the
health is impaired by such indulgence
With the comparatively poor there is add
ed to the injury to the stomach the waste
of means sufficient to lift them out of the
rank they occupy if their resources were
carefully husbanded. Of course, large
part of the expense of generous table is
laid out for comforts or luxuries which are
not in themselves injurious; but between
this expenditure and what is within the
rule there is more ohan wide margin,
which ought to be economical by those
who would be thrifty.
In matters of dress and the general house.
hold appointments there is also, if not abso-
lutte waste, at least an extravaganza of out
lay that eats largely into the means of those
who live from hand to mouth. A neat
calico gown may be purchased ready-made
for much less than two dollars, and in our
boyhood we have seen many rich woman
not as dainty dressed when she had on her
ususal attire in church. Silks or scarcely
less costly woolens are now the common
dress of the wives and daughters of those
ceived, and who have not cent laid by for
sickness, or what else may come under the
head of a rainy day.
Beyond both food and clothing, the
wastefulness which prevents thrift, and
keeps the poor in the clutch of want, ex-
tends to large class of expenditures not
easily classified or enumerated. The most
common is the use of alcoholic stimulants.
This waste is not confined to the husband
or father who frequents the saloon, and
leaves behind him large percentage of his
daily earnings. The women, with even less
excuse, are often as bad as the men, and
the pals and jugs that 60 back and forth
from the kitchen to the dram-shop, drain
in more ways than one the lifeblood of the
family.
While we have been speaking of the
possibility of living on pittance, and of
n In vtoh h1xy a.
| slender expense, we do not mean that such
bare economy is the duty of those who can
afford a more generous outlay. A large
part of the sum of human industries would
be wiped out, and the poor would suffer far
more than the rich, if everyone confined
himself to simplest necessaries of life, and
other comforts, to say nothing of luxuries,
were abandoned. 1t is the duty of those
who can afford it to surround themselves
with the elegancies of life. If nothing but
the plainest diet, on deal table without
china, glass or fine linen, formed the rule
of life; if no costly furniture, no exquisite
adornments of the home, no superfous con-
tributions from the hand of art, could
find patron or purchaser, the poor who are
dependent on their labor would suffer far
more than their richer neighbors.
Our object is to call attention to the wide
| SPssCC3 olAOSb DoyOuQ UCbWocu
modern desires and mans absolute neees-
sites; and to suggest to that large body of
people, not all or most of them even, living
on back streets or in. tenement houses who
complain that they are kept down by the
heavy hand of monopoly and the greed of
INSCRIPTIONS capital, that course nearer
the need, with more restraint of the desire,
will lead them out of poverty hollow into
the ranks of the well-to-do and independ-
ent. "NO need to earn more, save more"
said hard grinding man to one Of his
clerks who complained of being underpaid.
1t was said in coarse and brutal way, but
| it reached an attentive ear. From that
moment the clerk began to save, and he
surprised himself by the ease and extent of
economy when once his desires were not al
lowed to hold the reins. The story of
Micawber has saved many young man
from wrecked life. We wish that the
words "live within your income, however
small it may be, /" were branded over against
every mans conscience. 1t is religious
duty, as we'll as the noblest lesson in
political economy. Unruly desires far more
than meagre income are the source of
poverty and want.
Sisters Love Brothers Better Than Brothers
| Love Sisters.
| San Francisco Chronicle.1
A girl is generally very unselfsh to her
/ hrothor YOu don't often hoar Of a vOuno